The Dawn of Thunder

Chapter 2

        Thunderkit stretched, enjoying the sunlight on her fur. She was now three moons old, halfway to being an apprentice, and she couldn't wait to get out into the forest.

"Hey Thunderkit!" Thunderkit paused in her stretching to look at Firekit who was hurtling towards her, excitment carring him faster. "You'll never believe-" But Firekit was cut off as he went hurtling into Thunderkit, knocking her down with a yowl of alarm.

"Get off of me!" Thunderkit squeaked, pushing him off. "What do you want?"

"You'll never believe what I found!" Firekit's eyes shone with excitment.

"What?"

"A secret way out of camp!" Thunderkit stared at him, shocked yet excited at the same time.

"Really? Wait, what if another cat uses it while we do?"

"That's impossible because it's only about the size of us!"

"Great! When do we leave?"

"I already told Snowkit and Moonkit, and I think we should sneak out while mother is thinking we are asleep." How long has he known about this? It seems he has this all planned out already. Thunderkit thought to herself.

"Okay, that seems like a smart idea." Thunderkit nodded. "I can't wait!"

        "Shhh, we don't want other cats to hear us!" Firekit hissed at us while we slipped through the hole in camp. Firekit was right when he said it was the size of one of us, we could barely fit through ourselves.

"Maybe we should head back," Moonkit suggested, glancing up at the sky nervously. "I can smell rain, and it looks like it'll be a storm." Thunderkit had seen rain only once, just a couple days ago in fact, but it wasn't a lot.

"A couple days ago it rained and it wasn't so bad!" Snowkit voiced Thunderkit's thoughts.

"We'll be fine!" Thunderkit gave Moonkit a ressuring lick on the ear. "Besides, you have us with you."

"Yeah," Moonkit brightened a bit. "I guess you're right!"

"Let's go, let's go!" Firekit whined. "I wanna explore!" Thunderkit and her brothers meowed in agreement and set off.

"Where should we go first?" Snowkit asked, looking around.

"I don't know, it's so big!" Moonkit gasped. Suddenly, Thunderkit got an idea.

"Let's climb the mountain!" Thunderkit meowed, shaking with excitment.

"What?" Her brothers stared at her in shock.

"Let's climb the mountain," Thunderkit repeated, turning around and heading towards the huge gray rock. "You guys coming or what?"

"Yeah, we're coming!" Firekit meowed, running after her with Snowkit and Moonkit at his heels. "I was just surprised, that's all." Thunderkit didn't answer. She stopped by the mountain and began to scramble up, rock by rock, her brothers following. 

"How much further?" Snowkit wailed. "I'm getting tired. And hungry. And cold!"

"I don't know," Thunderkit looked up. "But I don't think we are even close!"

"Let's go down Thunderkit, we'll never make it. And besides, mother must be worried sick," Firekit began to slide down, Snowkit and Moonkit following.

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up later!" Thunderkit yowled, hoping they heard her. She began to climb again, and she realized the Snowkit was right. She was getting tired and hungry and cold. She looked around for a place to rest. There! Up ahead there was a small cave. She scrambled up to it but before she entered, she sniffed the air. She smelled cats, but they were different.

"Maybe they can get me some food," She murmered to herself. She trotted inside. It seemed like moons before she saw light again. Excited, Thunderkit started to run, bursting outside. But she wasn't prepared to for all of the water down below. With a yowl, she scrambled to get back inside the cave. But she was already sliding down. It was raining, and it was raining hard. It made the rocks slippery and Thunderkit couldn't get a hold on anything. She then saw a small bush nearby. Using all of the strength she had left, she scrambled over to it. Suddenly, her paws slid from under her and she just barely managed to grab onto the bush with her teeth. She pulled herself up so that she was sitting ontop of it.

It feels safe. I hope it doesn't fall. Thunderkit looked around. Below her, there was a huge drop, leading to sharp rocks and raging water. Behind her was the cave she came from, but it was too high for her to reach, and if she jumped she probably would've just slid down again. She nearly fell off her branch when she heard a loud BOOM! 

What was that? Thunderkit crouched down, shaking from cold and fear. She was done with this adventure. She just wanted to go home. She gave a small whine and covered her face with her paws. Suddenly, there was a flash and a searing pain in her paw like nothing she ever felt before. She gave a wail and fell off the branch. The last thing she remembered was seeing a flash of gray-blue before Thunderkit passed out.